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Nvidia ’s board said it is launching an investigation into reports that Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign espionage effort, after the CEO had a romantic relationship with an executive suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.

U.S. officials last year concluded that Chinese citizen Alice Huang , then a top executive at Megaspeed International, was sharing information with the Chinese government while working with Nvidia to build data centers in Asia, The Wall Street Journal earlier reported. Huang, who also goes by Huang Le, isn’t related to the Nvidia CEO.

Jensen Huang apologized to his staff Sunday for being unfaithful to his wife.

“I owe my family and all of you an apology,” Huang wrote. “There is no excuse for what I did.” The CEO and his wife, Lori Huang, have been married for about 40 years and have two adult children who work for Nvidia.

The company’s board said in a statement Sunday it has no reason to believe either the company’s secrets or national security were compromised and expressed confidence in the CEO’s leadership. A committee of independent directors helped by outside counsel would oversee the probe, the board said, and the “inquiry will examine all available information.”

“Today’s news will not slow NVIDIA. Jensen is committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption,” an Nvidia spokesman said in a statement. The company previously said Jensen Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang were “not unusual or unexpected” given their business ties.


Nvidia, with a $4.5 trillion market capitalization, has become a darling of America’s artificial-intelligence boom. It sells hundreds of billions of dollars worth of its advanced AI processors, known as graphics processing units, and other hardware, and has provided financial backstops and guarantees to huge swaths of the AI industry.

The investigation comes as Huang lobbies the U.S. government and leaders around the world to allow the free flow of chips powering the latest AI models and attempts to rebut concerns that such an approach could compromise national security. Huang’s role leading the world’s top chip designer has made him a global technology superstar but has drawn criticism from skeptics in and out of government who oppose Nvidia’s advocacy efforts.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said on X Sunday, “Congressional oversight investigation needed.” Three House Republicans had earlier called for Huang to brief lawmakers on the allegations.

The Nvidia CEO is among the technology executives who is closest to President Trump , frequently calling him to consult on AI and China policies while praising the White House’s economic strategy. Trump has approved Nvidia’s push to export some of its older chips to China and adopted an industry-friendly AI strategy despite public skepticism about the technology. Top Democrats have pushed for more oversight.

Trump’s approach has divided the administration, with officials pushing for stronger export restrictions and more oversight frustrated by the sway of Huang and other industry executives.

When asked by reporters on Sunday if Huang should stay on as Nvidia CEO, Trump said, “I think so, oh yeah, sure,” adding that “he’s an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it.”

“He’s done an amazing job for our country,” Trump said.

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook, President and CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang and European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks at the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

The New York Times earlier reported that Huang was seen as a target of Chinese spying and that he’d had a close relationship with Alice Huang.

Megaspeed was spun off from a Chinese company in 2023 as a Singapore-based firm building data centers throughout southeast Asia. It is one of several companies in the area that established partnerships with Nvidia, promising to use the company’s chips in data centers and rent that computing capacity to customers.

Such businesses have come under scrutiny for potentially routing chips to China and allowing Chinese customers to use the computing power.

Officials from multiple U.S. agencies, including the Commerce Department and Justice Department, have been investigating Megaspeed and its potential ties to the Chinese government for more than a year, according to people familiar with the situation.

Megaspeed’s name surfaced in deliberations in recent weeks over whether or not to publish the names of several dozen companies, including firms based in China or affiliated with Chinese companies, to the government’s U.S. Entity List, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

Such a move would have formally prohibited U.S. companies from doing business with Megaspeed and the other companies and subjected them to strict export controls. So far, neither Megaspeed nor the other firms have been added to the list, and agency officials have decided to put decisions about it in the hands of higher-ranking government officials involved in negotiating U.S.-China trade issues, these people said.

Megaspeed couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The company has previously said it is a “compliant and legitimate company.”

Officials in Singapore, where Megaspeed is based, and Taiwan had grown concerned about Alice Huang and her ties to China, The Journal previously reported. Authorities in Singapore and Taiwan who investigated her suspected ties to Chinese intelligence services believed she was recruited after they learned of what they saw as a close relationship to Jensen Huang.

A representative of the Singapore Police Force said earlier that investigations into Megaspeed were ongoing and declined to give specifics. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs has said that “there were no such investigations conducted in respect of Alice Huang” for her alleged ties to China.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., earlier rejected the allegations of spying, saying that China opposes what it called the peddling of the narrative, and that the nation’s technological development is grounded in “independent innovation.”

Alice Huang disappeared into China for a period in late 2024 as authorities started to surveil her. It couldn’t be determined where she is now or whether she still holds a top role at Megaspeed. Earlier attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com , Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com and Joseph De Avila at joseph.deavila@wsj.com